New JerseyNew Jersey officials recommend passage of a Home Lemon LawElimination of binding arbitration in homebuilder contracts, stricter licensing of construction supervisors, expanding the state Consumer Fraud Act, and more Read more: New Jersey Investigates

Todays New Jersey officials take steps to protect home buyers and regulate home builder, while Texas Legislator in 2003 passed legislation that created a new $3.25M state agency run "by the builders, for the builders," that regulates new home buyers.

New Jersey InfluenceTexas & New Jersey follow parallel paths and common troublesNew Jerseys corrupted system influenced creation of Texas TRCC

Texas implemented a similar program that failed in New Jersey. In 2003 Texas Legislators established the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) fashioned after the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs (DCA), a program which was the only one of its kind for years until Texas adopted a similar program. Ironically while Texas was creating TRCC, the New Jerseys DCA was embroiled in an investigation of waste, fraud, shoddy workmanship and documented structural flaws in new home construction across the state.

Texas consumers continue to protest the states lack of consumer protection and the failure of TRCC to safeguard the interest of new homebuyers. New Jersey on the other hand, after an exhaustive investigation, state officials issued a report that recommends sweeping changes and a New Home Lemon Law. See: TRCC & Texas A&M Scandal Brewing

Related background information on New Jersey

State of New JerseyCommission of InvestigationNovember 13, 2003SCI HEARINGS: HOME CONSTRUCTION and INSPECTION ABUSESTRENTON  The State Commission of Investigation will hold public hearings next week on widespread abuses in new-home construction and inspections in New Jersey.http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/ncirelease.pdfAsbury Park Press Home building remedies urgedSCI: Industry rife with problemsIn its final, 51-page report on its investigation into systemic problems in the building industry, the SCI outlines a battery of suggested changes. Key among the recommendations are an overhaul of the state's Consumer Fraud Act, the creation of a "lemon law" for new home buyers, and a requirement that all construction crew supervisors earn licenses and certification before they can work on New Jersey developments... In its report, the SCI outlines how a "lemon law" could protect buyers of new homes that are still seriously flawed after several repairs are made. The law could force the builder of such a home to buy it back.April 2, 2005 - The Associated Press - New Jersey InvestigationsReport on home builders finds waste, abuse"This is a system mired in the past, a system utterly incompatible with 21st century standards and expectations, a system that, in many respects, is as fractured and as imperiled by structural flaws as the problem-plagued homes it has produced," said the report released Thursday by the State Commission of Investigation. To correct the problems, the commission recommended several measures, including instituting stricter licensing of construction supervisors, requiring currently unlicensed carpenters and masons to become licensed, expanding the state Consumer Fraud Act to include new home construction and creating a "lemon law" for new homes that would require builders to buy back problem houses.index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=276&Itemid=197

State of New Jersey  Commission of InvestigationPress ReleaseSCI FINDS PANORAMA OF WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE in NEW-HOME CONSTRUCTIONCALLS FOR SYSTEM-WIDE OVERHAUL TO PROTECT CONSUMERSTRENTON  The State Commission of Investigation (SCI) today issued the final report of an unprecedented investigation into abuses in new-home construction and inspections in New Jersey and recommended sweeping legislative and regulatory reforms to boost government oversight and to safeguard the interests of the home-buying public. The reforms would create licensing and performance standards for builders, expand criminal statutes aimed at enforcing accountability for corruption of the construction inspection process, and empower home-buyers by revamping the states Consumer Fraud Act and enacting a new-home Lemon Law similar to one that has been on the books for years to aid purchasers of defective new cars.http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/NHCI/NHCI%20Release.pdf

New Jersey recommends Home Lemon LawHome building remedies urgedSCI: Industry rife with problemsIn its final, 51-page report on its investigation into systemic problems in the building industry, the SCI outlines a battery of suggested changes. Key among the recommendations are an overhaul of the state's Consumer Fraud Act, the creation of a "lemon law" for new home buyers, and a requirement that all construction crew supervisors earn licenses and certification before they can work on New Jersey developments... In its report, the SCI outlines how a "lemon law" could protect buyers of new homes that are still seriously flawed after several repairs are made. The law could force the builder of such a home to buy it back.State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation ReportState of New Jersey commission of Investigation 51 page ReportTITLED: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - New-Home Construction in New JerseySCI Latest Reports and Hearings